In the more than 20 years since Germany’s Kreator debuted with 1985’s Endless Pain, not a whole lot has changed for Kreator, or for thrash as a whole. Being so minutely subdivided, metal’s subgenres tend to rest heavily on their sonic trademarks, evolving minutely — if at all — lest they enter a nominally different genre. And sure enough, Kreator’s thrash is undeniably thrash — not power metal, not death metal, not even melodic death metal. Thrash. Just like the band’s older cousins in Metallica did with last year’s Death Magnetic, Kreator is sticking to its guns. Except, Kreator, instead of rehashing its own glory days and sounding like a tribute band covering its own songs, has aged gracefully. The veteran band’s latest, Hordes of Chaos, might not have the same explosive power vintage thrash once seemed to carry in spades, but it trades spontaneity for finesse and deliberation. Indeed, Hordes of Chaos is put together, mature, even.
The sloppy, drunken speed-freak tendencies of thrash’s adolescence (think D.R.I.) is eschewed completely here, traded for Mille Petrozza’s sobering views of humanity and global politics, and a fierce yet fine-tuned machine of a band churning out tight and heavy thrash, polished with age and wisdom, but just as agitated as ever. The title track builds itself into a barely-contained frenzy with a whirlwind Petrozza chanting “everyone against everyone” as his band builds his mantra into a furious froth before dissolving into a sustained squeal of feedback that launches into the charged gallop that opens “Warcurse.” Only “Amok Run” softens the blow, and only momentarily as it opens with a sparse, deliberate, and melancholy melodic passage before erupting into lightning-fast riffs and Petrozza, snarling and rabid, leading his band with the confidence of a seasoned general ushering his troops to battle. Searing guitars, a thundering low-end, and a vicious frontman all coalesce here to make Hordes of Chaos a solid, pitch-perfect slab of by-the-book metal, front-to-back. Kreator might not have changed much, but if after decades of this kind of masterful consistency, who am I to complain?
1. Hordes of Chaos (A Necrologue For The Exile)
2. Warcurse
3. Escalation
4. Amok Run
5. Destroy What Destroys You
6. Radical Resistance
7. Absolute Misanthropy
8. To The Afterborn
9. Corpses of Liberty
10. Demon Prince
More about: Kreator
